Altered Beast (XBLA) – Review – Xbox 360

Here is another entry into the Budget Gamers Corner from out friend Brian Ferral aka “Daeryoon”.  Today he gives you his review on Altered Beast on the XBLA.

Altered Beast

STORY

Altered Beast casts you as a man resurrected by Zeus and charged with rescuing his daughter from the nefarious wizard, Neff. It can be one or two-player over LIVE or on the same console. You get to punch or kick weird demons and creatures that get in your way and collect power-up orbs dropped by red-white glowing wolves that occasionally show up. The first two power-ups make you bigger and beefier. The third transforms you into some kind of anthropomorphic creature, depending on the level, like a fireball-throwing werewolf or an ice-breathing werebear. This side-scoller progresses through each slowly and automatically. You’ll run into Neff a few times along the way: if you’re in animal form, he’ll transform into some sort of sinister-looking boss opponent, otherwise he’ll throw some weak lightening and run away until you are in beast form. Once defeated, you move on to the next level, but Neff takes your power-ups, so you shrink back to wimp size for the next stage.

GAMEPLAY

Simple, side-scrolling adventure translated from the SEGA Genesis, and it is not the same as the arcade version. Most gamers won’t know the difference in the music or speech clips. The game is very basic, with Jump, Punch, or Kick as your only options. Punch becomes the hand attack for the anthropomorphic creature, such as fireball-throwing, where the Kick becomes a Dash attack for the werewolf. It was an excellent cliché arcade game, designed to take your quarters away. The remake for XBLA is a perfect copy of the Genesis, with all the flaws and nostalgia. Controls are hard and you must expect to die several times, but you can continue and keep bashing away until the end. Not much replay value.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Easy 200 that can be received in a few hours tops. It’s a simple 12 of 12 for 400 MS points.

SUMMARY

Altered Beast is a relic of the arcade heyday that just doesn’t hold up today. If you have fond memories of playing it in the arcade or on your SEGA Genesis, leave them in the past. While it was fun to revisit as part of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, Altered Beast can’t stand on its own. The only value here is the easy 200 achievement points or easy achievement in Sonic’s UGC.

Score: 7 out of 10

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